They're your baby girls, the ones whose every expression and move made your heart do double-time. Who made you proud of them in school, youth sports and every activity that showed off their hidden talents. The innocent, pure children who added a love to your life you wouldn't trade for all the cash in the world. After all, you've already won the lottery.

Every day, they're the teenage girls drawn into a nightmare of violence, lies, terror, desperation — and sex. Many grow up in poverty and will believe any "promise" to pull them out of it with money, shelter, food, clothing. Many are runaways or homeless, have been in foster care or have suffered sexual abuse. Many give in to their inner child, trusting the pimps and traffickers who say all the right things. Until they don't, which doesn't take long.

Sex trafficking is enslaving our children — boys included — and turning their lives into a vicious cycle from which attempts to escape can invite death. It's a booming business, thriving on a disgustingly high demand for commercial sex with minors. Online child sexploitation has exponentially grown an already pervasive crime. Pedophiles and recruiters exploit children from anywhere with internet access. Victims often go unidentified, silenced by fear and the control of their captors.

But this is not an incurable disease. Prostitution is an age-old problem, but renewed attention and a fresh approach can defeat it. As the International Justice Mission relayed to us, what is often needed are simple but hard steps: Gain the cooperation of victims; prosecute the pimps and business owners instead of the prostitutes; and show survivors that there is life after the abuse ends.

Human trafficking generates about $150 billion a year, two-thirds of it from the sex trade, according to IJM — most of it through a process that exploits women and girls.

One recent example of the progress being made to bring the monsters in this system to justice in North Texas is Operation Zeus, a sting involving over 100 state, federal and local authorities that led to 12 arrests on child porn and sexual exploitation charges.

Deputy Chief Thomas Castro tells us the Dallas Police Department is working to do its part, training officers to spot trafficking victims, taking a victim-focused approach, and devoting resources to its high-risk victims and internet crimes against children units.

Another of the numerous nonprofits waging this fight is Shared Hope International, which among other things rates each state on how its laws address sex trafficking. In this assessment, Texas earned an A in 2017, a testament to our state's and our community's commitment to this issue.

IJM, which focuses much of its efforts on Latin America, Asia and Africa, says sex trafficking is most common in countries with weak justice systems. But where law enforcement is stronger and steps are taken to prosecute those who perpetrate these crimes, there is hope.

"Modern slavery can end in our lifetime," IJM asserts.

With every beat of our collective hearts that went pitter-patter over our baby girls, that is our fervent wish.

Resources

Some of the lifelines available in the fight against sex trafficking: National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888, humantraffickinghotline.org Polaris Project: polarisproject.org International Justice Mission: ijm.org Shared Hope International: sharedhope.org